Sheet-feeding apparatus.



E. J. BRASSEUR.

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED JUNE29,1912.

Patented Sept. 2, 1913.

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INVENTOR BY M WITNESSES J Y ATTORNEY INVENTOR Patented Sept. 2, 1913.

2 snnnws-snnmz E. J. BRASSEUR.

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLIGATIOL FILED JUNEZQ 1912 WIT/{88158 Iilfa iiiEl-t PATENT QFFICE ERNEST J. BRASSEUR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNQR TO A. B. DICK COMPANY, Ole CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

lSHE131T-IFEEDING- APPARATUS. *3,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 2, 1913.

Application filed June 29, 1912. Serial No. 706,618.

This invention relates to apparatus for feeding sliect.-' v successively to a machine for operating upon the sheets such as a printing nu: he or a folding machine.

' invention is of particular utility in wnuection with a. stencil-duplicating mai'iaving a rotatable drum upon the ice of which a stencil is secured and which a pressure roller coacts to print spot: a sheet passed between the pressure ifl-ile'ti and the drum.

The invention is directed to the provision of an improved mechanism wherehy' 'the -normal operation of the machine will not take place if no sheet be fedat the proper time into position for coaction with the drum and pressure-roller.

Stencil-doplicating machines are commonly provided with pressure-rollers which are moved away from the drum to an inoperative position once in each rotation of the drum, and thereafter are moved back to an pemtive position to effect the printing. If no sheet be fed to the drum and pressurerotler' and these parts be rotated with the roller in operative position, ink will be transferred from the stencil; to the surface of the press!troroller and subsequently this ink will be transferred to the rear face of a sheet. It is therefore desirable to keep the pressure-roller out of conction with the stem cil if no sheetbe in position to receive an impression from the. stencil when the drum is rotated. I

In accordance with the present invention, pneiimatically-actuateddevices are provided for automatically controlling the movement of the pressure-roller to operative'and in operative positions and these devices are controlled by the presence or'absence of a, sheet in position for (inaction with the drum and pressure-roller. When the roller is in -a red t0 inoperative position it is held in print upon the sheet will take place. The

pneumatically-actuated devices include a lock for holding the pressure-roller in the inoperative position, a bellows controlling this look and an air passage leading to. the bellows which passage is closed by a sheet When the latter is in position for coac tion withthe drum and pressure-roller. 'VVhen a sheetis in this position it prevents the flow of air to the interior of the bellows and in this way controls the action of the lock for holding the pressure-roller.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a central section of a stencilduplicating machine provided with the improved sheet-feeding apparatus, Fig. 2 is a section of the machine adjacent to one of the side-plates thereof and Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view hereinafter referred to.

Referring to these drawings, the machine consists of side-frames 1, in which a drum 2 is mounted for rotation, this drum having a foraminated stenciLcarrier-Zi; extending'a'bout a portion of the cylindrical surface thereof and over which the stencil4 is secured The drum has a gear 5 secured thereto and meshing with the pinion 6 mounted upon a stub-shaft rotatable in one of the sideframes and provided with an operating handle 7. The preshure-roller 8 is mounted directly below the drum 2, its ends being received in hearings in arms 9 which are pivotally mounted upon the side-framcs Springs 10 are connected at one end to the arms 9 and at the opposite end to the sideframes, these springs being arranged to act upon the arms 9 so as to draw the'pressureroller upwardly to ('iperat'ive' position in which position it 'will'co'act' with 'the stencilsheet on the drum! A'roel-sha-ft 11' is mounted in' the side-frames adjacent and parallel to the pressurerOIIer-"YSL At one end this rock-shaft has an arm 12'sec1ired thereto, whose free end overlies the free end of the adjacent arm 9. This end of arm 12 carries a roller 13 which'is adapted to be engaged by two cams 14 and lfisecured upon the end of drum 2. When either of.

these cams enga es roller 13 the latter is depressed and epresses the roller 8 so that the roller is moved to its inoperative position At the opposite side of'the maehine the rock sha'ft 11 has a lever-'16 se cured thereto (Pig's-f1) whes'e'eiid overlies roller. The cam 14 depresses the it was moved by the cam 14.

A. train of gears 17 connects the pinion 6 with a gear 18 secured upon a shaft 19 which is journaled in bearings in the side-frames. This shaft has a gear 20 secured thereto which gear meshes with a gear 21 mounted on a shaft 22 rotatable in hearings in the side-frames and parallel to the shaft 19. Shaft 22 has a mutilated gear 23 and :1 Geneva stop-plate 24 mounted thereon and rotatable therewith. The gear 23 coacts with a pinion 25 and stop-plate 24 with a stop-plate 26. The pinion 25 and stop-plate 26 are secured upon a sleeve 27 which is rotatable upon the shaft 19. The sleeve 27 has a plurality of sheet-feeding sectors 28 secured thereon each of which coacts with a section of a sectional 29 mounted directly above the sleeve 27.

The gearing above described is such that as handle 7 is turned, the drum is rotated continuously, the shaft 19 is rotated continuously and the sleeve 27 is rotated intermesheswvith the gear 18.

when mittently, sleeve 27 being effected by the mutilated gear 23 and the pinion 25, the gear 23 being driven continuously by the gears 20 and 21. The various gears are so proportioned that sleeve 27 and ,the sectors 28 carriedthereby make one revolution during each revolution the surface speed of the of the drum and sectors 28 is the of the drum.

The feedboard of the machine is shown at 30. It is pivotally mounted upon the side-frame of the machine with its forward end underlying a sheet-feeding roller 31 provided with a pinion 32 upon its end which pinion meshes with a gear 33 carried by a suitable stub-shaft 34. The gear 33 so that, the sheetfeeding roller 31 is continuously rotated the drum is rotated. Directly bverly- 1n the sheet-feeding roller 31 is a coacting roiler 35. The sheet-feeding apparatus coact-ing with the sheet-pile upon the feedboard need not be described in detail for the specific form in which the sheet-feeding apparatus is embodied constitutes no part of the present invention. During the operation of the machine the feedboard is rocked on its pivot so as to carry the top of the pile into coaction with the roller 31. This roller then buckles the top-sheet of the pile between it and a bar 36 and catches the edge same as the surface speed is held in the depressed position to which sheet-feeding roller this intermittent rotation of the of the sheet in corrugations in the surface of the roller so that, this edge is carried around upon the'upper surface of the roller; thereupon the forwarding roller Comes down upon the surface of the sheet and the further rotation of roller 31 feeds. the sheet forward between it and the roller 35. The sheet so forwarded is carried upon the surface of a support 37 extending between the side-frames of the machine and the sheet is moved forward until. its forward movement is arrested by the edge bf the sheet engaging stops 38. These stops are secured upon :1 rock-shaft 39 mounted in bearings depend ing from the plate 37. At one end, this rock-shaft 39 has an arm 40 secured thereon which arm carries a roller 41 coacting with a cam 42 secured upon the shaft 19. When the parts are in the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the ends of the stops 38 are below the plate 37, but as cam 42 is rotated, it raises the stops until their ends are projected upwardly through openings in plate 3'? and into coaction with an overlying plate 43.

When the stops 38 are so arrested, they lie directly-in front of the line of coaction of sectors 28'and the roller 29.

Mounted upon the base of the machine is a bellows 44 having a movable wall. 45 which is hinged to the structure of the bellows. This wall 45 is acted upon by a spring 46 which tends to move the wall to the raised position. The wall is depressed against the tension of spring 46 by arms 47 secured upon the shaft 22. The wall 45 has a standard 48 secured thereon to which one end of a link 49 is pivotally connected. The other end of this link 49 is pivotally connected to a link 50 which is pivotally mounted at 51 upon a suitable support. The arrangement of these links is such that the beilows is. moved, the link 50 is rocked .on its pivot, the link 50 being thus moved to the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1 and to the position in which it is shown in Figs. 2 and 3. When link 50 is in the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, its upper end is away from the adjacent end of the lever 16 mounted on the rock-shaft 11; but when the link 50 is in the position shown in Fig. 1 its upper end lies under the adjacent end of the lever- 16. YVhen the end of link 50 is under the end of lever 16 the pressureas the wall 45 of' roller is in the lowered or inoperative position and it cannot be moved upwardly from that position by the springs 10 for such movement can be effected only by the rocking of lever 16 and such rocking movement of the lever is obstructed by the link 50. The bellows has a tube 52 leading therefrom, the end of which tube passes through an opening in the plate 37 in rear of the openings provided in that plate for the stops 38. The opening in plate into which the upper end of tube 52 enters is preferably directly in the rear of the line of coaction of the sectors 28 and the roller 2!).

The operation of the machine will now he described.

.\s the drum is rotated the arms 47 are rotated so as to collapse the bellows once during each revolution of the drum. The wall -15 of the bellows reaches its collapsed position just after a sheet has been forwarded upon the plate 37. At this time the stops 38 are in the raised operative position in which they are shown in Fig. 1 so that the movement of the sheet is arrested when the edge of the sheet is in contact with the stops 38. The. continued operation of I the machine causes the arms 47 to move upwardly so as to allow the wall 45 of the bellows to be moved upwardly by spring 46. For wall 45 to/move thus, however. air must pass into the bellows through the tube 52, but if a sheet is upon the plate 37 and overlying the tube 52 such sheet will preclude-the entrance of air into tube 52 and hence wall 45 will not be moved upwardly by its spring 46 as the arms 47 move upwardly but will remain in the downward position to which it was moved. When the wall 45 is held thus in the downward position, the link 50 is in the position in which it is shown in Figs. 2 and 3 out of coaction with lever 16. Therefore, when cam 14 depresses the pressure-roller and then moves out of coaction with the pressure-roller there will be nothing to obstruct the upward movement of the pressure-roller and the latter will be so moved by its springs 10. Just before the pressureroller moves upwardly thus, the mutilated gear 23 will engage the pinion 25 and rotate the sectors 28 through one revolution. As the sectors rotate thus, they are carried around through slots in the plate 37 and grip the sheet between them and the roller 29 so as to forward the sheet over plate 37 from the position to which it was moved with its edge in engagement with the stops 3% to a position in which its end is carried between the drum and pressure-roller. The

stops 38 are allowed to move downwardly by their operating cam 42 just before'the sheet is gripped by the sectors 28 and the roller 29. The feeding movement of the sheet is eflected at the same speed as the surface speed of the drum and the pressureroller 8 is raised immediately after the end of the sheet is carried bet ween the drum and pressure-roller so that the sheet is gripped by the drum and pressure-roller and is passed between them at the same speed as that at which it was moved by the sectors 28. If for any reason the initial sheet-feeding mechanism including the rollers 31 and 35 had failed to move a sheet upon the plate 37, the entrance of air into the tube 52 would not be obstructed so that when the arms 47 moved upwardly, the wall 45 of the bellows would move upwardly with them actuated by its spring; 46. This nio\cment of wall 45 would rock the link 50 to the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1. This rocking movement of link 50 would take place immediately after cam 14 had operated to depress the pressure-roller and as the lever 16 would follow the movement of the pressure-roller. the end of that lever adjacent to the link 50 would he raised so that the upper end of link 50 would pass under the end of lever 16. Thereafter, when cam 14 moved out of coaction with the pressureroller, the latter would not be raised by its springs 10 for such raising movement could be effected only by rocking the lever 16 and the rocking" movement of that lever would be obstructed by the link 50. As a result of this. the pressure-roller 8 would be held in the depressed or inoperative position while the stencil was being carried around ove'r the pressure-roller and therefore the pressure-roller would not receive ink upon its surface from the stencil. The pressure-roller would continually be held in this depressed position until the bellows was I again collapsed by the arms 47 resulting in the release of lever 16 and thereafter the lever 16 would be again locked or released depending upon the presence or absence of a sheet upon the surface of plate 37. It will thus be seen that the movement of the pressure-roller is controlled by the presence or absence of a sheet in position to be fed to the drum and pressure-roller, and this control is effected pneumatically. If a sheet be in position, it acts to preclude the flow of air into the bellows and in this way serves to prevent the locking of the pressure-roller in its lowered or inoperative position, but if no sheet be in position, air will flow freely into the bellows and the movement of the bellows which takes place as a result of this effects the locking of the pressureroller in its depressed position.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a stencil-duplicating machine. the combination of a rotatable drum, a pressureroller, means for moving the roller away from the drum to inoperative position once during each revolutionflof the drum, a pivoted lever which is rock d on its pivot when the roller is moved toward and away from the drum, a locking member movable into position to prevent rocking of said lever and out of such position, a bellows having a movable wall connected to said locking member for positioning the same, a support for a sheet to be fed to the drum and pressure-roller, and a tube leading from the bellows to the surface of said support, substantially as set forth.

2. In a stencil-duplicating machine, the

combination of a rotatable drum, a pressure-roller movable to operative and inotperative positions as the drum is rotate a support for a sheet to be fed between the drum and roller, a lock for holding the pressure-roller in inoperative position after it has been moved to that position, a bellows controlling said lock, and means for controlling the bellows including an airpassage terminating at said support and adapted to be closed and opened by a sheet on the support, substantially as set forth.

combination of a rotatable drum, a pressure-roller movable to operative and mo eratlve positions as the drum is rotate a support, means for automatically moving a sheet over the support and between the drum and pressure-roller,a bellows having a movable wall, means'for operating said wall, a lock controlled by said wall for holding the pressure-roller in inoperative position-when 1 it has'been moved to that position, and means for controlling the movement of said movable wall including an air-passage terminating at said support and adapted to be upon the support, sheet-forwarding devices :5

for feeding sheets from the support between the drum and roller, a bellows operated when 3. In a stencil-duplicating machine, the

said drum is rotated, a lock controlled by the bellows for locking the pressure-roller in inoperative moved to that position, and an air passage leadin from the bellows to said support and a apted to be closed by a sheet on the support, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 27th day of June, 1912.

ERNEST J. BEASSEUR. Witnesses:

H. H. MEEHAN, M. H. BURKART.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

position when it has been 

